Rockin’ The Coliseum (Exile EOM 003 AB)
Seattle Coliseum, Seattle, WA – July 18th, 1975
Disc 1: Honky Tonk Women, All Down The Line, If You Can’t Rock Me/Get Off Of My Cloud, Star Star, Gimme Shelter, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, You Gotta Move, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Happy, Tumbling Dice, It’s Only Rock And Roll
Disc 2: band intro., Fingerprint File, Wild Horses, That’s Life, Outta Space, Brown Sugar, Midnight Rambler, Rip This Joint, Street Fighting Man, Jumping Jack Flash
Rockin’ The Coliseum is one of several new releases on the Stones exclusive Exile label. This is the same tape source that has surfaced before on the Tour Of The Americas 75 (RS01-08 PHONOCOMP) box set and last year as Seattle 75 on the Risk Disc label. It is a good to very good audience recording, taped a distance from the stage and sounds a bit “soft”. Previous Exile releases have been absolutely ruined with their excessive mastering with the tape, creating the crunchy swooshes underneath the music. I am truly thankful they choose not to ruin this release. There is some evidence of their mastering but it doesn’t distract like on some of their earlier releases.
The band were obviously on a high after their Los Angeles stint and the momentum obviously carried over into this joyful, enthusiastic show. By this stop in they tour they altered the set list by moving “It’s Only Rock And Roll” earlier in the set after “Happy”. “Luxury” and “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo” were unfortunately cut from the show and the “sad song” set (in Mick’s words) was shortened with “Angie” being omitted. I really liked the extended funk workouts followed by the ballad portion of the show, but perhaps they thought it was too much?
What is left is very good. “Gimmie Shelter” is very heavy in this show and Ron Wood plays an excellent solo again in “You Can’t Always Get”, something that characterizes all the shows on this tour. “Midnight Rambler” is one of the better versions I’ve heard and the standards in the latter part of the set receive the expected ovations. Exile have utilized several pictures from the tour with the band singing “You Gotta Move” on the front cover.
